Vancouver Sikh Activists Under Threat as BC Courts Target India-Linked Gang Assets

British Columbia's South Asian community is navigating a sobering security landscape this week, as RCMP delivered rare duty-to-warn letters to Sikh activists in BC and Ontario facing credible threats to their lives — a development that resonates deeply in a province still reckoning with the 2023 killing of Surrey gurdwara president Hardeep Singh Nijjar. In parallel, BC courts have launched a landmark $11-million real estate forfeiture action against Garinder Singh Deo, a Surrey man charged in the United States with facilitating an India-based transnational crime syndicate tied to Operation Hard Ball — a case that is reshaping how Canadian courts handle cross-border organized crime.

RCMP Issues Life-Threat Warnings to Sikh Activists Across BC and Ontario

In a troubling signal for British Columbia's Sikh diaspora, RCMP have issued duty-to-warn letters to Sikh activists in both BC and Ontario, alerting recipients of credible, specific threats against their lives. The August 18 report from CityNews Vancouver did not identify the warned individuals by name, but the development carries unmistakable resonance in a province still grappling with the June 2023 assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey. Nijjar, who had been designated a terrorist by India, was shot dead in the parking lot of his gurdwara — a killing that triggered a diplomatic rupture between Ottawa and New Delhi after Canadian intelligence linked the murder to agents of the Indian government. The duty-to-warn protocol is reserved for situations where police hold intelligence of a genuine and imminent threat that they are legally obligated to share with potential targets. That RCMP is again using it for multiple Sikh figures across two provinces suggests the threat environment has not abated in the years since Nijjar's death. For the large Punjabi Sikh community in Surrey and the broader Lower Mainland, the warnings deepen an already heightened sense of vulnerability — and raise fresh questions about the adequacy of protective measures for diaspora activists who speak out on sensitive matters relating to India. Community organizations are expected to call for a public safety briefing with federal and provincial officials in the coming days. [2]

BC Courts Seek to Seize $11M in Surrey Real Estate Tied to India-Based Bhagwanpuria Gang

In a legal first for British Columbia, the province's civil forfeiture director has filed a notice of claim in BC Supreme Court seeking to seize more than $11 million in Vancouver-area real estate owned by Garinder Singh Deo, a longtime Lower Mainland gangster charged by American prosecutors with facilitating the India-based Bhagwanpuria gang. Reported by investigative journalist Sam Cooper at The Bureau, the July 8 filing is notable not only for its scale but for its unprecedented legal architecture: BC's claim cites United States federal statutes — including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the Hobbs Act, and the U.S. Controlled Substances Act — as the basis for stripping assets on Canadian soil. The province alleges Deo purchased bulk quantities of cocaine and heroin intended for shipment from Southern California to the eastern United States. RCMP arrested Deo in France on July 7, the day after a Los Angeles grand jury unsealed indictments connected to FBI Operation Hard Ball, and he remains in French custody pending extradition. The forfeiture claim also invokes terrorism financing language under Canada's Criminal Code, alleging Deo enriched international criminal organizations and terrorist groups — an allegation made sharper by Canada's September 2025 designation of the Bishnoi enterprise, the lead syndicate in Operation Hard Ball, as a terrorist entity. Critically, court documents reveal that before the indictment was unsealed, Deo transferred Surrey property assets to a sister and brother-in-law for one dollar and what the deed described as natural love and affection. [4]

Sources: [2] CityNews Vancouver · [4] The Bureau | Sam Cooper